Tag Archives: Jeufine

Every Monday we will post an entry that hasn’t yet been published with a view towards harnessing the collective onomastic power of the internet. If you have any thoughts about the name’s origin, other variants it might be related to, other examples of its use, etc., please share them in the comments! If you wish to browse other Mystery Monday names, there is an index.

Today’s name is a feminine one from late 16th C Normandy (Protestant context, if that makes any difference). It’s one where we can easily come up with various guesses about its origins, but that’s all they are — guesses.

Guess one: It is related to French jeu ‘game’ and fin(e) ‘fine, nice’ or fin(e) ‘final’. Problem: Very atypical type of construction (unless the phrase was some sort of phrase in common parlance at the time that we are not familiar with); fine is fem. but jeu is masculine (but perhaps this is simply because the name was borne by a woman!)

Guess two: The editor misread an s for an f and the name is Jeusine; possibly then it is related to the English Josine we have from 1549. (An attempt to feminise Joseph? Or Josiah?)